A growing number of audio sources are competing for the audio channel of a user's device. For example, in a vehicle, a plurality of different audio sources could compete for the driver's and passenger's attention. In an automobile, as perhaps the most common example, the competing audio devices can include, but are not limited to:                Radio        Streamed music, audio books and other media        Automotive assistant        Navigation system        Car status and safety announcements        
When announcements from the car, an assistant, or a navigation system, as examples, have to be played out, any ongoing streams from an infotainment system can be lost. The outgoing infotainment streams can include music and/or talk and can be sourced from any of a number of channels or media, such as a radio, a mobile device, music, a vehicle hard drive, a compact disc (CD), unified serial bus (USB), and so on.
When a second stream of audio, such as an announcement from the vehicle or navigation system, is received, the first (e.g., infotainment) stream is typically muted or suppressed, usually by setting the output volume for the infotainment stream at or near 0. In such case, the infotainment audio output that has been muted or suppressed can be completely lost. As a result, the listener may miss information from a radio news program or from an audio book, as example, s/he is listing to as the infotainment stream. This can materially degrade the infotainment experience for all listeners.
Also, typically the announcements are output with no consideration for the first, e.g., infotainment, stream output. As a result, the announcement can appear in the middle of a word or sentence, which can further degrade consumption of the infotainment content by all listeners.